Grecian Judaica

Jews migrated out of Israel at the time of the destruction of the first temple, but there is no physical evidence of a Jewish presence in Greece earlier than the 2nd century of the Common Era that we know about.  Several years ago, we saw a 1st-century synagogue which was discovered in Italy in the 1960s, so it is reasonable to assume that Jews were in Greece, too. 

Greece's Jewish population since 1500 has mostly been the Sephardim who escaped from Spain and Portugal during the time of the Inquisition and expulsion.  The Jewish population of Greece suffered a 95% loss during the Holocaust.  Neighboring Bulgaria refused to deliver their Jewish citizens to the Nazis; instead, they kidnapped Jews from Greece and delivered them to the Germans.

There are about 8,000 Jews living in Greece today in a population of 11 million.

Athens

At the Jewish Museum in Athens, we saw a tablet (photo below) showing a menorah and lulav.  The tablet was a copy; the original, from the 3rd century CE, was at the museum of the Ancient Agora of Athens, an excavation site of several acres. 

We went to the Ancient Agora and searched the museum for the original - it was not on display.  A  museum historian informed us that the piece was only available to researchers, but also told us where it was found within the site. The below photo shows the location of the ancient synagogue (foreground) and its juxtaposition to the large Temple of Hephaistos.

Modern Athens' Jewish Community:

Current Synagogues

About 3,000 Jews live in Athens today.

Holocaust Memorial

Rhodes

There is documentary evidence of a Jewish community on Rhodes in the third century BCE, but no physical evidence has been found.  The present synagogue is from the 16th century and was built by Jews who fled the Spanish Inquisition and Expulsion.  About 30 Jews currently live in Rhodes.  For more information from the Rhodes Jewish Museum, click here.

Courtyard

Holocaust Memorial in Martyrs' Square

Thessaloniki

The 3rd-century sarcophagus (below) is the only epigraphic evidence of a synagogue in Thessaloniki prior to the Sephardic Jews coming from the Iberian Peninsula after the 15th-century expulsion from Spain.

Jews made up more than half of the 170,000 Greeks living in Thessaloniki in 1917.   A major fire in 1917 destroyed much of the city and the entire Jewish section. Today, there are about 1,500 Jews in Thessaloniki. The synagogue we saw was built in the 1950s.  The Jewish Museum does not allow photographs.

Holocaust Memorial

 

Crete

The Jews of Crete were living under Venetian rule in the 16th century.  According to the information plaque in the Historical Museum of Crete, Jews at the time were not much different than the Jews of America today.  For photos of the exhibits, click here.

Germans occupied Crete during WWII.  They loaded Crete's 265 Jews and many resistance fighters onto a cargo ship and sent them to Athens for railroad transport to Auschwitz.  A British submarine torpedoed the ship.  All on board died.

Zakynthos